Survivor Series (2011)

Survivor Series (2011)

Promotional poster featuring The Rock and John Cena
Tagline(s) Never Before. Never Again
Theme
song(s)		 "Good Feeling" by Flo Rida
Information
Promotion WWE
Date November 20, 2011
Attendance 16,749[1]
Venue Madison Square Garden
City New York City
Pay-per-view chronology
Vengeance (2011) Survivor Series (2011) TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs (2011)
Survivor Series chronology
Survivor Series (2010) Survivor Series (2011) Survivor Series (2012)

Survivor Series (2011) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE that took place on November 20, 2011 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. It was the 25th annual Survivor Series event and the first one to take place in Madison Square Garden since the 2002 event.[2]

Seven matches took place at the event, six of which were broadcast live on pay-per-view. In the main event from the Raw brand, The Rock, in his first match since WrestleMania XX, teamed with John Cena and defeated The Miz and R-Truth. The main event from the SmackDown brand saw Big Show defeat World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry by disqualification. In another predominant match on the card, CM Punk was victorious over Alberto Del Rio by submission to win the WWE Championship. According to early estimates, the buyrate for the event was 260,000, slightly up from last year's event which received 244,000 buys. [3]

Contents

Background

See also: Professional wrestling

Survivor Series featured professional wrestling matches involving different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines that developed on WWE's television programs. Wrestlers portrayed villains or heroes as they followed a series of events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.[4]

The main event involved WrestleMania XXVIII opponents John Cena and The Rock teaming against The Miz and R-Truth, otherwise known as the Awesome Truth. After losing to Alberto Del Rio the previous month at Vengeance due to interference by The Miz and R-Truth,[5] Cena decided to face both of them with Zack Ryder. However, before the match, Ryder was ambushed by the two and Cena was beaten down by them in the middle of the match.[6] Interim General Manager John Laurinaitis booked Cena with a match against Miz and Truth at Survivor Series with a partner of his choosing, with Cena deciding to choose his WrestleMania XXVIII opponent, The Rock, as his partner.[6] Billed as the most charismatic team in the world, The Rock accepted his offer the following week.[7]

Another main event from Raw involved WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio against CM Punk for the WWE Championship. Three months prior at SummerSlam, Del Rio cashed in his Money in the Bank contract against CM Punk to become WWE Champion.[8] While Punk did get his rematch at Hell in a Cell, Cena was the champion going into the match and it was a Triple Threat match, thus he expressed his desire to have his official one-on-one rematch for the championship, which Del Rio firmly objected to.[6] After locking him into an Anaconda Vise after a match, Del Rio agreed to give CM Punk his title shot at Survivor Series.[7]

The main event from SmackDown involved the World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry against Big Show for the World Heavyweight Championship. The previous month at Vengeance, Henry attempted to suplex Big Show from the second turnbuckle, only for the ring to collapse, leaving both men unable to continue.[9] Continuing their feud, another match was booked involving both men at Survivor Series[10] with a reinforced ring so that it would not buckle and collapse.

As a tradition to the Survivor Series pay-per-view, there was a 10-man tag-team elimination match, this year involving Team Orton, consisting of Randy Orton, Sheamus, Sin Cara, Mason Ryan, and Kofi Kingston, against Team Barrett, consisting of Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger and Hunico. Originally, Christian was a member of Team Barrett, but an injury precluded him from participating in the event, thus being replaced by Ziggler.[11]

Event

Dolph Ziggler defeated John Morrison in the opening match after a Zig Zag. After the match Zack Ryder attacked Ziggler and hit him with his finishing move, the Rough Ryder.

Beth Phoenix defeated Eve Torres in a Lumberjill match for the Divas championship after a Glam Slam from the top rope.

Team Wade Barrett consisting of Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes, Hunico, Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler (who appeared in his second match on the card), defeated Team Randy Orton, consisting of Randy Orton, Sheamus, Kofi Kingston, Mason Ryan and Sin Cara. The match started of with Kingston and Ziggler facing off. Ziggler was the first man eliminated after a RKO. Sin Cara was eliminated after sustaining a legitamate injury. Mason Ryan was then eliminated after Cross Rhodes by Cody Rhodes and Kofi Kingston was eliminated by Wasteland by Wade Barrett. Sheamus was disqualifed after not breaking the referees 5 count near the ropes. In frustration, Sheamus Brogue Kicked Jack Swagger who was then pinned by Randy Orton. Hunico was next eliminated after Randy Orton hit a RKO in mid-air to him. Following a distraction by Rhodes, Randy Orton was pinned by Wade Barrett, giving Team Barrett the win and leaving Rhodes and Barrett the sole survivors.

The Big Show defeated Mark Henry, but as it was by disqualification, the title stayed with Henry. During the match, Henry tackled Big Show through the barricade, but Big Show got into the ring before the 10-count. Big Show then performed a diving elbow drop to Henry. Big Show then went for his finisher, the WMD (a knockout punch) but Henry performed a low blow to Big Show causing the disqualification. After the match Big Show placed a steel chair over the leg of Henry and gave him a leg drop onto the leg.

CM Punk defeated Alberto Del Rio to become the new WWE Champion. Former WWE ring announcer, Howard Finkel was CM Punk's guest ring announcer for this match to match Alberto Del Rio's Ricardo Rodiguez. During the match, there were many reversals and counters to the two men's various finishers and submission holds. The match results into CM Punk winning via submission with Alberto Del Rio tapping out to the Anaconda Vise. Punk celebrated with the crowd after the match.

The main event was a tag team match consisting of John Cena and the Rock defeating The Miz and R-Truth. Throughout the match, Cena was targeted and was almost pinned many times. After R-Truth and John Cena took each other out of the match, the Rock performed a spinebuster followed by the Peoples Elbow to pin the Miz. After the match the Rock performed the Rock Bottom on Cena.

Results

# Matches[12] Stipulations Time[12]
Dark Santino Marella defeated Jinder Mahal Singles match[13] 05:35
1 Dolph Ziggler (c) (with Vickie Guerrero) defeated John Morrison Singles match for the WWE United States Championship[14] 10:42
2 Beth Phoenix (c) defeated Eve Torres Lumberjill match for the WWE Divas Championship[15] 04:33
3 Team Barrett (Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger, Hunico and Dolph Ziggler) defeated Team Orton (Randy Orton, Sheamus, Mason Ryan, Kofi Kingston and Sin Cara) Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Tag Team match[16] 22:10
4 Big Show defeated Mark Henry (c) by disqualification Singles match for the World Heavyweight Championship[17] 13:00
5 CM Punk defeated Alberto Del Rio (c) (with Ricardo Rodriguez) by submission Singles match for the WWE Championship[18] 17:14
6 The Rock and John Cena defeated Awesome Truth (The Miz and R-Truth) Tag team match[19] 21:36
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

Eliminations

Elimination Wrestler Team Eliminated by Elimination move Time[12]
1 Dolph Ziggler Team Barrett Randy Orton RKO 01:32
2 Sin Cara Team Orton Unable to continue Had to forfeit due to injury 03:41
3 Mason Ryan Team Orton Cody Rhodes Cross Rhodes 08:50
4 Kofi Kingston Team Orton Wade Barrett Wasteland 14:04
5 Sheamus Team Orton Disqualified Disqualified for nonstop knee strikes to Swagger 18:30
6 Jack Swagger Team Barrett Orton Brogue Kick by Sheamus after being disqualified 19:33
7 Hunico Team Barrett Orton RKO in mid air 21:38
8 Randy Orton Team Orton Barrett Wasteland 22:10
Survivor(s): Wade Barrett and Cody Rhodes (Team Barrett)

Reception

The Sun rated the event an 8 out of 10.[20] The event was released December 20, 2011 on DVD by WWE Home Video.[21]

References

  1. ^ "Survivor Series 2011". Pro Wrestling History. http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wwf/survivor.html#2011. Retrieved 2011-12-2. 
  2. ^ "WWE Presents Survivor Series". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/survivorseries. Retrieved 2011-10-22. 
  3. ^ http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/Survivor_Series_PPV_Buy_Estimates_Lowered_Jim_Ross_Says_No_Benoit_In_HOF.html
  4. ^ "Live & Televised Entertainment of World Wrestling Entertainment". WWE. http://corporate.wwe.com/company/events.jsp. Retrieved 2010-06-21. 
  5. ^ Murphy, Ryan (2011-10-24). "WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio def. John Cena (Last Man Standing Match)". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/vengeance/john-cena-vs-alberto-del-rio. Retrieved 2011-12-20. 
  6. ^ a b c Murphy, Ryan (2011-10-24). "WWE Raw SuperShow results: Kevin Nash brings the hammer down". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2011-10-24/results. Retrieved 2011-12-20. 
  7. ^ a b Murphy, Ryan (2011-10-31). "WWE Raw SuperShow results: It's time to meet The Muppets!". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2011-10-31/results. Retrieved 2011-12-20. 
  8. ^ Wortman, James (2011-08-14). "CM Punk def. John Cena; Alberto Del Rio cashed in Raw Money in the Bank briefcase (New Undisputed WWE Champion)". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/summerslam/2011/cena-punk-wwe-title. Retrieved 2011-12-20. 
  9. ^ Burdick, Michael (2011-10-10). "World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry vs. Big Show ended in a No contest". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/vengeance/2011/henry-show. Retrieved 2011-12-20. 
  10. ^ Passero, Mitch (2011-11-04). "SmackDown results: Big Show gets another chance at Mark Henry". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/2011-11-04/results. Retrieved 2011-12-20. 
  11. ^ Styles, Joey (2011-11-14). "Christian injured; out of Survivor Series". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/survivorseries/2011/christian-injured-out-of-survivior-series. Retrieved 2011-12-20. 
  12. ^ a b c Caldwell, James (2011-11-20). "Caldwell's WWE Survivor Series PPV Results 11/20: Complete "virtual time" coverage of live PPV - The Rock returns, Punk vs. Del Rio, Henry vs. Show". Pro Wrestling Torch. http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/wweppvs/article_55339.shtml. Retrieved 2011-11-21. 
  13. ^ "WWE Survivor Series dark match result from MSG". Prowrestling.net. http://www.prowrestling.net/artman/publish/WWE/article10021913.shtml. Retrieved 20 November 2011. 
  14. ^ "United States Champion Dolph Ziggler vs. John Morrison". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/survivorseries/2011/dolph-ziggler-john-morrison-survivor-series. Retrieved 16 November 2011. 
  15. ^ "Divas Champion Beth Phoenix vs. Eve". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/survivorseries/2011/eve-vs-beth-phoenix-survivor-series. Retrieved 14 November 2011. 
  16. ^ "Team Barrett vs. Team Orton". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/survivorseries/2011/team-orton-team-barrett. Retrieved 7 November 2011. 
  17. ^ "World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry vs. Big Show". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/survivorseries/2011/mark-henry-big-show. Retrieved 4 November 2011. 
  18. ^ "WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio vs. Undertaker". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/survivorseries/2011/alberto-del-rio-Undertaker. Retrieved 31 October 2011. 
  19. ^ "The Miz and R-Truth vs. John Cena and The Rock". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/survivorseries/2011/cena-rock-miz-truth. Retrieved 31 October 2011. 
  20. ^ "Rock lights up Survivor Series". The Sun. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/wrestling/3948834/Rock-lights-up-Survivor-Series.html. Retrieved 2011-12-05. 
  21. ^ "WWE Survivor Series 2011". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005M9VSJ6/. Retrieved 2011-12-20. 

External links